Yup, I did the Rangers pre-sale last month for the Yankee stadium game and on 3 x $149 tickets I paid $112 on convenience charges and shipping.

And yes I felt a sharp pain in my butthole when I saw that amount.

The only reason the convenience charges were so high on the Ranger deal was because it included some extras such as scarf and other Rags gear. I think it was an extra $25 or $30 a ticket so that makes up for most of the fee.

Very arrogant franchise we are. The business model is flawed. They need to have an "a la carte" mentality with some of the seats and continue to do what they were doing.

There is a reason why, for example, an airline like Southwest pumps money year after year despite the airline industry having suffered considerably since 2001. Their business is simple and transparent - and people get to destinations they want, at a price that is fair, and a product that is competitive.

We, on the other hand, have a group of hot-shot wanabee sports agents, under the direction of two or three boneheads, who dictate the policies and pricing of tickets - overestimating the PRICE / PRODUCT / and COMPETITION.

We're heading in the wrong direction I'm affraid.

there is a reason this email was specifically sent to season ticket holders. The organization wants to make sure it doesn't lose ground in the sth base that they built up the past few years, especially now that the team hasn't been up to snuff the past 50 games.

I don't blame them for trying to make their season ticket holders feel special. Any good marketing plan would rely heavy on retaining and promoting these plans... It's where the best money is for the club.

For all the people complaining about being left to the curb as a non sth, nowhere in the email did I see the organization not value you, they simply stated the obvious- season ticket holders are their priority.

I just don't understand what the big deal is that email makes a whole lot is sense to me.

Very arrogant franchise we are. The business model is flawed. They need to have an "a la carte" mentality with some of the seats and continue to do what they were doing.

There is a reason why, for example, an airline like Southwest pumps money year after year despite the airline industry having suffered considerably since 2001. Their business is simple and transparent - and people get to destinations they want, at a price that is fair, and a product that is competitive.

We, on the other hand, have a group of hot-shot wanabee sports agents, under the direction of two or three boneheads, who dictate the policies and pricing of tickets - overestimating the PRICE / PRODUCT / and COMPETITION.

We're heading in the wrong direction I'm affraid.

Another year of empty seats at The Rock and house will hopefully be cleaned of these frauds

there is a reason this email was specifically sent to season ticket holders. The organization wants to make sure it doesn't lose ground in the sth base that they built up the past few years, especially now that the team hasn't been up to snuff the past 50 games.

I don't blame them for trying to make their season ticket holders feel special. Any good marketing plan would rely heavy on retaining and promoting these plans... It's where the best money is for the club.

For all the people complaining about being left to the curb as a non sth, nowhere in the email did I see the organization not value you, they simply stated the obvious- season ticket holders are their priority.

I just don't understand what the big deal is that email makes a whole lot is sense to me.

It is all lipservice, nothing more. They want to make it sound like they are catering to STH's...but what do they do? Promise events and perks they DO NOT deliver on. Label fans as "brokers" if they sell a certain amount of games. They do not even tell you what the amount of games is!! It is a total joke; there was a lengthy thread on HF about this.

Another year of empty seats at The Rock and house will hopefully be cleaned of these frauds

It is all lipservice, nothing more. They want to make it sound like they are catering to STH's...but what do they do? Promise events and perks they DO NOT deliver on. Label fans as "brokers" if they sell a certain amount of games. They do not even tell you what the amount of games is!! It is a total joke; there was a lengthy thread on HF about this.

I'm not a sth so honestly I don't have any opinion on perks and I don't live in the area to get to games to know what the atmosphere is.

I guess what I'm getting at is I'm sure this email wasn't just out of the blue. There had to have been some feedback from plan holders complaining that single game pricing on the secondary market was making it difficult for them to justify retaining their plans.

In the end I'm confident that they're employing a lot of smart people who have made a lot of money in this business and they know what business model should be implemented, but I guess only time will tell.

i saw a couple of these discount deals and they are absolutely nothing compared to what they were last year they arent even worth looking at.. highest discount "deal" that ive seen was maybe $5 off of box office.. sorry ill continue to stick to stubhub to buy tickets to all of my games and hell im basically a season ticket holder threw stubhub ive only missed one game this season i love going to as many as i can just not worth it financially to purchase seasons when i can get tickets cheaper then what theyre offering... that and i enjoy moving around a lot.

Exactly, the 2011 season and the 2012 season I went to like 15-20 games a year, and a good majority of the tickets were purchased through those ticket deals. Thats profit from A) tickets through the team, not the secondary market. B) Concessions, about 60 bucks a game between beers and food for me and my gf. C) Merch on occasion.
So instead of bringing in over $100 a game for just two bodies, they think its better to just leave those seats empty and get nothing. Its stupidity. So they send out some sham email to make the people being robbed of their money feel better about the bad product their giving them for their investment. Well its not hard to see through their BS. Scorebig and stubhub are still the way to go. Until they lower the prices, they can enjoy a 25% empty building against a rival.

It is kind of a balancing act the Devils have to maintain. When they offered tons of deals the last few years - particularly when sth prices were really crappy a few years ago - sth's complained they undercut their ability to re-sell and offered a disincentive to buy games up front. Now that they're offering no deals the non-sth's are complaining about being priced out of the building (in reality you're only priced out of buying tickets from the Devils, the secondary market DOES have tickets for sale most nights that are below Devils box office).

It is kind of a balancing act the Devils have to maintain. When they offered tons of deals the last few years - particularly when sth prices were really crappy a few years ago - sth's complained they undercut their ability to re-sell and offered a disincentive to buy games up front. Now that they're offering no deals the non-sth's are complaining about being priced out of the building (in reality you're only priced out of buying tickets from the Devils, the secondary market DOES have tickets for sale most nights that are below Devils box office).

Stubhub blows though. You have to get those stupid paper tickets that if you ever happen to have an extra, is impossible to sell right before the game since no one believes it's real. That and the fees are lame too.

You're right though, it is a balancing act. I think the 10-11 season was probably too many deals. I don't think I paid to see a game that year, lol. But a whole lot of nothing isn't helping me convince my buddies to see a game.

this is how i feel. i, like colin, appreciate the same seat and the perks (although i think there should be more - that's what's going to really make someone want STH). the difference between spending $500 and $700 for some sort of plan isn't likely to sway an opinion if the perks are special.

whether it was jvb specifically or his marketing team, i did like what they were doing during his tenure for fan support

I could go on for hours about this but I'll spare everyone. Basically when you're at the mercy of carpetbagger sales people, this is what happens, and absentee ownership will just let them run it straight into the ground. It's just pathetic at this point. I can't be a STH anymore because of my work schedule, but I was for 17 years, I watched to go from a cheap energetic building at the dump to a morgue, to them fvcking the new building up six ways to sunday, to them finally getting it, going back full circle to a cheap energetic building. And they've pretty much pissed it away in under a year. The worst is yet to come.

It is kind of a balancing act the Devils have to maintain. When they offered tons of deals the last few years - particularly when sth prices were really crappy a few years ago - sth's complained they undercut their ability to re-sell and offered a disincentive to buy games up front. Now that they're offering no deals the non-sth's are complaining about being priced out of the building (in reality you're only priced out of buying tickets from the Devils, the secondary market DOES have tickets for sale most nights that are below Devils box office).

There is no balancing act, STH have been marked well under face for years. It's a sad attempt at gouging, When I was left my seats were the cheapest they had been since the late 90's. 15 rows up behind the net. Yeah, they did undercut them last year out of necessity (really only the lower bowl ticketholders), but boo hoo. STH never were an investment. When I was paying over $3K a ticket and no one was at the dump I wasn't bitching about getting undercut.

These guys run hot and cold. Gouge, discount, gouge, discount. It just proves they don't have the pricing figured out at all. The only time they've ever hit was the playoffs 2 years ago for the last two rounds where they went maniacal with the gouging. And then left the single gamers holding the bag when they got undercut viciously. I bought 100's for 1-2 of the Finals for well under face on the resale market, because their face values were utterly ridiculous for Devils tickets. $350 lower bowl seats and such. I have my stubs from 2003 and they were tripling them in some cases in the 3rd round and the finals